A hollow fiber membrane contactor may be used for many purposes, including but not limited to, removing entrained gases from liquids, debubbling liquids, filtering liquids, and adding a gas to a liquid. Membrane contactors may be used in many different applications, for example, a hollow fiber membrane contactor may be used for in-line pH adjustment of water.
Current designs for elongate, cylindrical hollow fiber membrane contactors include hollow fiber mats embedded in opposing annular rings of potting material where the ends of the hollow fiber members are open. These embedded mats are then inserted into an elongate, cylindrical housing along the major axis of the hollow fiber members to form the device. The current designs are effective but may have one or more issues or problems.
One problem that current designs may have is that the housing may not allow the module to be easily installed, replaced or maintained in-line with new or existing piping systems, like pipes, tubes, ducts, etc. Another problem that current designs may have is the amount of pressure drop associated with moving a fluid through the device.
At least one embodiment of the instant invention of a wafer-shaped hollow fiber module for in-line use in a new or existing piping system is designed to address one or more of these problems.